Friday, December 16, 2011

When our plans change

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11. Our plans for Thursday - go for a CT Scan @ 12:15 and then to a retina specialist @ 1:30 just a few blocks away. We didn't plan on all the rest and it is amazing how we (with lots of help from friends) actually accomplished it all.

It started Wednesday when my van decided not to work - it would start but wouldn't stay started. So as I am trying to get to Sydney's Christmas party at school, I was able to call a friend and she came to my rescue and took me to school (thanks Ginger!). So after the party, I try the van again - still no luck, so I call another friend for help with the little girls after school (thanks Lori!). We had church parties on Wednesday night and Mike was able to get home from work and his much needed chiropractor appointment in time to get us all to church for all the fun - thankful for his new truck that runs great! When we arrived at home after seeing many friends at church who are praying for me - thanks Capshaw friends, I opened the sweet gifts from some of the Merge 54 children. A gift card, a beautiful ornament, a yummy bag of goodies, and a beautiful cross night light. This is God's way of showing me his humor. For those of you who know - it was a night light that started this journey and we just had to laugh at the irony of the precious gift. God knows all, He knew my accident was going to happen and He knew this young man (and his mom) would pick this gift. AMAZING!

We decided to deal with the van Thursday morning. Thursday morning arrives and Ashlie is sick (not part of the plan) - fever, aches, pains, sore throat, and lots and lots of congestion - she was perfectly fine Wednesday. So I call the doctor and we get a 9:50 appointment. I also call the car place to get the van towed and diagnosed (again, not part of the plan). The tow truck arrives around 9:30 - van in tow. Mike and I are able to take Ashlie to the doctor - go straight back and a few tests later - Ashlie has strep. We all know that is good - because she can get medicine to hopefully fix her quickly. Next stop - take Ashlie and I home and Mike is off to get the medicine. Now we need another friend to help - Ashlie is home (remember - not part of the plan). We call Dick and Nancy - our go to, practically adopted grandparents for help. Dick has an appointment to go to - but he can bring sweet Mrs. Nancy over on his way out of town to sit with Ashlie. So now I am clorox wiping down everything to make sure Mrs. Nancy doesn't catch strep from Ashlie. Ashlie is to stay on one side of the room and Mrs. Nancy on the other! Mike and I are finally off to accomplish the plan. We get to the CT scan office in time and wait a little before I am called back and begin the IV process - ouch! First stick - fails! Second stick - the technician uses a "very small needle" and it works - not in the best location - but at least it was only two sticks. I lay on the machine and it begins to not work properly. She needs to re-boot. Okay - several re-boots later and another person into help and the machine still doesn't work. Remember the plan - 2nd doctor appointment @ 1:30 right down the street, I have to leave. So with IV thing in hand - wrapped tightly (ouch!), I am off to the next appointment with a new plan to come back here to try the CT scan again.

Now we are at the retina doctor, not too bad of a wait - but I am starving by this point (I forgot to mention I couldn't eat or drink prior to the CT scan). I finally get back for part one of the appointment. More eye tests and I could actually see pretty good with the injured eye through the thing with the small holes - this is good. Then lots of drops were put both eyes and eventually my eyes were dialated (my eyes are watering just thinking about this). Then after waiting for all this stuff to work, I see the specialist and he does all this looking with special things and calls out all this information about lots of stuff. Some interesting things I learned, the cut is from 7:00 to 2:00 and is ~ 3/4 the diameter of the cornea. The reason I can't see very well is the location of the cut. The repair looks excellent and we get to wait and see how well it heals, which is a slow process (months) due to no blood vessels in the cornea. He did determine that the retina and lense and other stuff behind the cornea all look good - this is great news! I go see him again after Christmas to dialate the left eye again and compare just to make sure there is no change. I keep doing the drops as prescribed to ensure no infection. So this appointment was long, but we learned a lot of good things and now we get to go back to try to get the CT scan.

Back at the CT scan office, they send me right back, the machine is working, she is able to use the IV thing - YEA! She does the first scan, puts the dye in very slowly (remember the very small needle), and she does the second scan and we are finished. She removes the IV things. Now we are able to go home. The CT scan was performed to ensure there are no foreign bodies floating around in the eye - we will know these results next week. I'm still hungry - but if we get straight home now we can actually get the van that had been diagnosed and repaired by this time.

We call for some more help to take Mike to get the van and a friend can pick him up after he returns from work in a little while (thanks Wade for his willingness to help!). Meanwhile, Dick arrives back at our house earlier than we had thought, so he is able to take Mike on over to get the van. The timing allowed Mike to get Katie from BJHS soccer conditioning (so we didn't have to call Karen - who had left us a message graciously offering to help as needed with Katie!).

Just in case you are still reading this - Ashlie is home with Nancy, Dick, and Maggie. Katie and Mike arrive home from soccer in the repaired van. Lori arrives a little while later with Sydney who had went to her house after school, hung out with Lori during Kaylee's first dance class and then Lori got Sydney to her class and brought her home after dance (thanks again Lori!).

So as the verse said at the beginning - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11. God has blessed us with many friends and yesterday's plan could not have been accomplished without many of them. THANKS FRIENDS!